MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra-promotedZee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) isconverting its Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand-focused regional newschannel Zee Sangam into a nationalHindi news channel named India 24X7.The new channel will be inauguratedby Chandra on 24 October.India 24X7 will be a free-to-airchannel that will be available acrossall platforms in the Hindi speakingmarket. It will complement ZMCL’sHindi news channel Zee News.Incidentally, India 24X7 will be thefirst news channel from Zee Mediastable without the Zee brand.“Zee Sangam is being converted into anational channel called India 24X7.The channel will be inaugurated bySubhash Chandra on 24 October,” saida source close to the development.While Zee News competes with topchannels in the Hindi news genre likeAaj Tak, ABP News, and India TV,India 24X7 will compete with FTAchannels like News Nation, News24and India News.The source said that the Hindi newsgenre is worth Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12billion), of which the FTA channelspartake as much as Rs 550 crore (Rs5.5 billion). It is this market thatIndia 24X7 wants to capture.“There is a big fight between the topfive and bottom six. There is a goodamount of money that is goingtowards the channels at the bottomsix also. We want to have a bettershare of revenue in that marketalso,” the source added.Zee Sangam was being headed by ZMCLeditor of news operations VasindraMishra. There is no clarity yet on whowill head the new channel.“ZEE Sangam is being converted into anational channel,” Mishra posted onhis Twitter account.In a separate Facebook post, hementioned, “Our chairman Sri SubhashChandra ji will inaugurate anotherHindi national news channel INDIA24X7 on October 24, 2015.”With Zee Sangam being converted intoIndia 24X7, ZMCL will not have adedicated channel for UP/Uttarakhand, which has severalplayers like ETV UP/UK, India NewsUP/UK, Samay UP/UK, News Nation UP/UK and more.Pertinently, ZMCL is planning tolaunch an English news channel inFebruary/March next year. It will bean international news channel with anIndian point of view. Chandra hadrecently stated that the English newschannel would be positioned as atechnology-driven channel.The company is in talks with CNN forthe proposed channel. Rohit Gandhi,who is ZMCL’s editor-in-chief ofEnglish news broadcast and relatedcontent, will head the new channel.ZMCL owns two national newschannels (Zee News and Zee Business)and a clutch of regional newschannels, Zee 24 Taas (Marathi), ZeeSangam (UP & UK), Zee MadhyaPradesh Chhattisgarh, Zee Marudhara(Rajasthan), Zee Punjab HaryanaHimachal and Zee Kalinga (Odisha).Additionally it operates two regionalnews channels through itssubsidiaries, 24 Ghanta (Bengali)through Zee Akaash News Pvt Ltd andMaurya TV (Bihar & Jharkhand)through Maurya TV Private Limited.The network claims that it reachesover 78.5 million viewers across thecountry through its televisionnetwork (Source: BARC, NCCS 4+, AllIndia, ZMCL Channels, June 2015Reach).Zee Sangam, along with ZeeMarudhara (soon to be Zee RajasthanNews) and Zee Kalinga, was earlierpart of Terrestrial EntertainmentNetwork (Ten) format, which was amix of news and entertainmentprogramming. However, the networklater moved away from the Tenformat to focus purely on news.The company had acquired Bihar newschannel Maurya TV in October 2013. Ithad entered into a share purchaseagreement (SPA) with Maurya TVpromoters Prakash Jha, Sangita Jha,Manmohan Shetty and KrishanlalChabbra to acquire 100 per cent stakein the company.The company held 37.87 per cent stakein MTPL until 11 December 2014, whichwas later hiked to 100 per cent, thusmaking it a wholly owned subsidiary.ZMCL had bought Maurya TV for anaggregate value of Rs 7.79 crore (Rs77.9 million).http://www.televisionpost.com/television...s-channel/